I had the pleasure recently to sit with Cathy Arnold, Fortitech Premixes' North American Regional Manager for Formulations, to gain some insight into the ins and out of cereal fortification. Here's what she had to say...
 
Patrick Morris (PM): Are there any technical barriers to adding any particular vitamin or mineral to a ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereal or cook-up cereal? Do the fortification levels, ingredients or method of addition differ between the two types of cereal?
 
Cathy Arnold (CA): There are technical issues involved in the formulation of any product, but the primary factors to be considered are generally related to those that would negatively impact the stability of the nutrients, or negatively impact the organoleptic attributes of the finished product.
 
Many cereal products are extruded or processed with steam, which can involve high heat, humidity, and pressure. The product pH and moisture content also should be considered as these too vary from product to product. Many nutrients do not tolerate these conditions well, particularly some of the B vitamins like thiamine, or vitamin C. Even the fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A, D and E are susceptible to oxidation during processing.   
 
These factors need to be considered when selecting the nutrients to add to a product. This does not mean that these more sensitive nutrients cannot be added, just that the conditions of processing need to be considered when selecting the level of the nutrients to add. The concept of adding "overage" to account for expected losses due to processing and time increases the amount of a nutrient added to a formulation by a specific amount to ensure the declared level of the nutrient is in the finished product. These "overages" are different for each nutrient, and for the specific manufacturing processes used. By conducting stability tests in the finished product these overages can be optimized to account for the specific losses seen in the manufacturing of a specific product.
 
Another area to consider in these products relates to the organoleptic properties of the finished food. The visual parameters like color and shape, the aroma, and of course the flavor, are all critical to the production of a successful fortified product. While minerals are relatively process-stable, they can impact the organoleptic properties of the finished product. Minerals like iron can react with the cereal matrix leading to color changes, which could produce undesirable shades of gray, green or yellow in the product. These interactions can be minimized with selection of appropriate market forms, or encapsulated materials, and changes to processing procedures may also be beneficial.
 
PM: What's the best way to mitigate off-flavors when fortifying breakfast cereal? Does this work well across different varieties?
 
CA: Many off flavors can be minimized by adjusting the levels of the offending nutrient, but when that is not an option, a coated or encapsulated market form may be able to help, or some of the flavor options provided from flavor houses as "blockers" or “maskers" may help. The capabilities in this area in particular have come a long way in recent years.
 
PM: What is the best way to add heat-sensitive nutrients to a breakfast cereal (for example at what point in the process)? Why?
 
CA: Stable vitamins and the minerals can be added at the start of the mix to obtain the maximum dispersion. One option for protecting the more delicate fat-soluble nutrients may be to separate nutrients into pre-mixes that will each be added at an appropriate time. For example, separating the oil-soluble and water-soluble vitamins can help with dispersion by allowing them to be mixed with compatible ingredients in the formulation.   
 
By using an appropriate pre-mix, a manufacturer can dissolve or disperse the vitamins and minerals in a spray solution to be added at the end of the processing, after the majority of the processing that would be detrimental to the nutrients. This could be the sweetener solution, or a flavor being applied as a spray at the end of the processing. This minimizes the exposure of the nutrients, and can decrease the needed overages in the pre-mix formulations, since this ensures the sensitive vitamins avoid the high temperatures and pressures encountered during cooking, extrusion and drying. This method only exposes them to a relatively short, mild finished drying process.
 
PM: How are overages generally determined?
 
CA: As I mentioned earlier, proper ingredient selection and determining overages for each ingredient that are specific to finished product composition, and processing conditions employed during manufacturing are critical to product success. The factors that affect a nutrient's stability vary from material to material. Factors to be considered include exposure to heat, moisture, oxygen, pH and light, but for most formulation purposes we are generally concerned with heat, and product interactions. Nutrient suppliers will generally be able to provide scientific information about the stability of a nutrient when exposed to these different parameters, but many pre-mix manufacturers go on to develop their own basis for determining overages. This is often based on experiential data generated over time working in the industry, and scientific evaluation of stability and interactions with various materials in a variety of products.
 
PM: What fortificants are you seeing increased interest in for breakfast cereals? What do you think is behind this trend?
 
CA: Certainly fiber and protein additions continue to be very common, but more emphasis appears to be on structure/function claims involving whole grains, soy and oat beta-glucans. The aging population has a lot to do with this, but also as the raw materials used to give the increased protein, fiber and grains improve so do the quality and eating experience of the finished product. Quickly fading are the days when the consumer needed to sacrifice enjoyment of a food to get a "healthy" option. Today, many of these foods with added nutrition are just as good or better than their predecessors.
 
PM: What are the three most important factors when deciding the type and levels of nutrients to add to a breakfast cereal.
 
CA: Identifying detrimental effects on the nutrients in the processing, market positioning and label claims, and finished product organoleptic requirements are all important factors when deciding the type and level of nutrients for a product. The last one is likely the most important, since it doesn't seem to matter how well you do on the other items; if it doesn't taste good, consumers won't continue to buy it.